API cost decision in 10 seconds

Mercury 2 vs DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1

Pick DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T10:03:26Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T12:43:06Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is estimated at $0.39 vs $0.62 for Mercury 2, saving $0.24 (38.4% lower).

Cost-first pickDeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1

Context-first pickDeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1

Sample savings$0.2438.4%

10x traffic gap$2.4

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $2.4. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Mercury 2	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	$1.62	$0.93
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	$1	$0.64
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	$4	$2.63

Cheaper input DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 $0.25 vs $0.135 / 1M

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is $0.11 cheaper per 1M input tokens (46% lower; 1.85x difference).

Cheaper output DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 $0.75 vs $0.5 / 1M

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is $0.25 cheaper per 1M output tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).

Larger context DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 128K vs 131.07K

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).

Sample workload DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 $0.62 vs $0.39

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is $0.24 cheaper on the standard workload (38.4% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Mercury 2 Calculating… Estimated API cost

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 has the lower input price; DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 has the lower output price; DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.62 for Mercury 2 and $0.39 for DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1.

Best Fit

Choose Mercury 2 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is estimated at $0.39 vs $0.62 for Mercury 2, saving $0.24 (38.4% lower).
DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is $0.24 cheaper on the standard workload (38.4% lower).
DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is $0.11 cheaper per 1M input tokens (46% lower; 1.85x difference).
DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is $0.25 cheaper per 1M output tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).
DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Mercury 2 (Inception)	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 (Nex AGI)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.25	$0.135
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.75	$0.5
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.62	$0.39
Context Window	128K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-03-04	2025-12-08

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1 is estimated at $0.39 vs $0.62 for Mercury 2, saving $0.24 (38.4% lower).
High-volume input processing	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	DeepSeek V3.1 Nex N1	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

No lower-cost same-provider swap is currently tracked for this pair.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $0.3 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Inception catalog

Review all tracked Inception models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Nex AGI catalog

Check other Nex AGI models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

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